When we first saw the ASUS ROG Crosshair IV Extreme back in March, it seemed like just a beefier version of the Crosshair IV Formula with four well spaced out PCI-E x16 expansion slots, a stronger VRM, and a few more ASUS-exclusive goodies thrown in. Later in May, we learned that the Crosshair IV Extreme is different from its smaller, more popular sibling, in featuring the LucidLogix Hydra Engine chip that lets the users pair graphics cards across the lineups and GPU vendors, whichever way they want to upscale performance or add features. After quite some wait which led some of us to fear that ASUS shelved the product as Crosshair IV Formula seems to have been well received, the company surprised us by finally releasing the beast to the market.

The Crosshair IV Extreme that we see today is slightly different from the older iterations in featuring a different heatsink assembly design. It features bulkier, more groovy-looking heatsinks over the north-west cluster that houses the CPU VRM and AMD 890FX IOMMU, while the south-east cluster has a sleeker heatsink that cools the Lucid Hydra chip and the AMD SB850 southbridge. Most other features remain the same: expansion slots that include five PCI-E x16, one PCI; support for dual-channel DDR3-2000 MHz memory; a six-port SATA 6 Gb/s RAID controller, 2 SATA 3 Gb/s ports, two eSATA 3 Gb/s; connectivity that includes gigabit Ethernet, Bluetooth, 8-channel SupremeFX X-Fi audio, USB 3.0; and a boat-load of OC-friendly features including ROG Connect, redundant BIOS, on-board voltage-measure, PCI-E gating and OC controls, etc. It is priced around 300 EUR.

Hydra doesn't give you "SLI/CrossFire", it is its own multi-GPU technology. A-mode for ATI + ATI, N-mode for NV+NV, Mixed-mode. You won't need a bridge cable.

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Dude thats news to me. Below is from your own news report. Am I missing something?

Following the apparently-successful launch of the ROG Crosshair IV Formula, ASUS is preparing the second, even-higher end offering under the Republic of Gamers (ROG) series for the socket AM3 platform, the Crosshair IV Extreme. First pictured and detailed in March, the Crosshair IV Extreme turned out to be a little more than just a beefier Crosshair IV Formula with a stronger VRM and more expansion slots; it has an important addition to its feature-set which was revealed after some websites pictured the board without its chipset heatsink. The Crosshair IV Extreme makes use of the Lucid Hydra engine, with a 32-lane Hydra bridge chip that supports 3~4 graphics cards. While the AMD 890FX isn't deficient of PCI-Express lanes, the addition of Hydra gives the motherboard the unique ability to mix and match graphics cards, with special modes for pairing ATI GPUs, NVIDIA GPUs, and ATI + NVIDIA GPUs. Another feature that got revealed with the heatsinks off is the CPU VRM, which makes use of no less than 11 independent phases, and a super ML capacitor that helps voltage tuning with high precision, and conditions CPU voltage better than conventional capacitors. ASUS may choose Computex as the ideal launch-vehicle for the Crosshair IV Extreme.

I was looking forward to this board with a phenom x6 and some water cooling..... months ago now i have had to wait so long i decided to wait for sandy bridge and if i can hold off long enough bulldozer to see if they impresses me.

If this had been out 6 months ago i would have owned one for about 6 months now, damn asus

Disappointed in Asus that they waited so long to release this board. I was ready to buy it back in July, but now I will just wait till Sandy Bridge or Bulldozer. If Asus had made this an AM3+ board then I would be all over it.